I didn’t plan to end up in product. I planned to be a lawyer.
Background
I studied law, worked as a law clerk across personal injury, immigration, family and conveyancing matters, and finished a law and business degree - but where I landed was in the gap between what technology had already solved elsewhere and how law firms were still operating. That led to a Legal Systems Manager role, then to co-founding a consultancy building platforms and tools for firms across Australia. Both involved product management in everything but name. When I stepped into a formal product role, I wasn’t learning a new discipline. I was finally putting a name to one I’d been practising for a decade.
The full story is in The Title Came Last.
The product chapter
I made a deliberate decision to join a large organisation. I wanted scale, resources, and the chance to lead people, not just projects. The role was their first dedicated Product Manager on a global platform and shared services team - brought in to introduce product thinking and help the platform grow.
The company happened to be a legal tech business I already knew from the other side. I’d been a customer of theirs during my years as a law clerk. I remembered their email footer from back then, quietly noting they’d placed highly in that year’s best places to work, one of those companies you file away and think: if the chance came up.
It did. I’m now a Senior Product Leader with my own team, covering Product, Quality, Change and Project Management across much of the SDLC. The platform operates globally, supporting regional businesses who serve their own local customers. That distance between decision and impact is what makes the work interesting. It rewards breadth - which is what I’ve been building toward.
The Technical Edge
I’m self-taught as a developer: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript from the ground up, then SQL and PHP on the backend, Node as JavaScript moved server-side. That didn’t stay theoretical. During my consulting years I was designing, building and shipping platforms and tools for law firms across Australia: real clients, real production code, real consequences if something broke. I was also running the infrastructure: AWS, EC2s, server upgrades, shell work. The full stack, in the literal sense.
I’m a Hackathon Developer. What I care about is building something that works and solves the problem. The fun is in the architecture, the what-ifs, the moment something clicks. The maintenance and the framework churn. Less my thing. AI has shifted that equation: I can stay in the part I love and let the rest take care of itself.
How I think
The work is connecting enough dots, across subject matter, technology, product and people, to make the call. And moving back just as quickly when the signal changes.
I have an endurance mindset. Cycling, late-night builds, problems that probably won’t resolve the way I hoped. Same disposition. Knowing when to stop is a skill. Leaving without the lesson is a waste.
Why I write here
I write for people building careers that don’t fit neatly into one lane. The PM who wants to understand the technical side without becoming an engineer. The developer thinking about making the move into product. The aspiring leader watching someone navigate the same road a few steps ahead.
I don’t have all the answers. I have a lot of experience, a compulsion to keep asking what if, and a genuine belief that sharing the work (including the friction, the pivots, and the what ifs) is more useful than polished retrospectives.
If something here resonates, connect with me on LinkedIn.